Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/239

 you sought,  but  yourselves;  it  would  not  be  eternal  riches,  but vain and  fleeting  consolations;  it  would  not  be  the  remedies  of faith,  but  the  supports  of  your  self-love.

Thus, be  whom  you  may  who  now  listen  to  me,  imitate  the  woman of  Canaan;  be  faithful  to  prayer,  and,  in  the  fulfilment  of  this duty, you  will  find  all  the  rest  sustained  and  rendered  easy. If a sinner,  pray:  it  was  through  prayer  alone  that  the  publican  and the sinful  woman  of  the  gospel  obtained  feelings  of  compunction and the  grace  of  a  thorough  penitence;  and  prayer  is  the  only source and  the  only  path  of  righteousness. If righteous,  still  pray: perseverance in  faith  and  in  piety  is  promised  only  to  prayer;  and by that  it  was  that  Job,  that  David,  that  Tobias,  persevered  to  the end. If you  live  amid  sinners,  and  your  duty  does  not  permit  you to withdraw  yourself  from  the  sight  of  their  irregularities  and  examples, pray:  the  greater  the  dangers,  the  more  necessary  does prayer become;  and  the  three  children  in  the  flames,  and  Jonah  in the  belly  of  a  monster,  found  safety  only  through  prayer. If the engagements of  your  birth,  or  of  your  station,  attach  you  to  the court of  kings,  pray:  Esther,  in  the  court  of  Ahasuerus,  Daniel  in that  of  Darius,  the  prophets  in  the  palaces  of  the  kings  of  Israel, were solely  indebted  to  prayer  for  their  life  and  salvation. If you live in  retirement,  pray:  solitude  itself  becomes  a  rock,  if  a  continual intercourse  with  God  does  not  defend  us  against  ourselves; and Judith,  in  the  secrecy  of  her  house,  and  the  widow  Anna  in  the temple, and  the  Anthonies  in  the  desert,  found  the  fruit  and  the security of  their  retreat  in  prayer  alone. If established  in  the  church for the  instruction  of  the  people,  pray:  all  the  power  and  all  the success of  your  ministry  must  depend  upon  your  prayers;  and  the apostles converted  the  universe  solely  because  they  had  appropriated nothing  to  themselves  but  prayer  and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. Lastly, be  whom  you  may,  I  again  repeat  it,  in  prosperity  or in  indigence,  in  joy  or  in  affliction,  in  trouble  or  in  peace,  in  fervency or  in  despondency,  in  lust  or  in  the  ways  of  righteousness, advanced in  virtue,  or  still  in  the  first  steps  of  penitence,  pray. Prayer is  the  safety  of  all  stations,  the  consolation  of  all  sorrows, the duty  of  all  conditions,  the  soul  of  piety,  the  support  of  faith, the grand  foundation  of  religion,  and  all  religion  itself. O my  God! shed, then,  upon  us  that  spirit  of  grace  and  of  prayer  which  was to be  the  distinguishing  mark  of  thy  church,  and  the  portion  of a  new  people;  and  purify  our  hearts  and  our  lips,  that  we  may be enabled  to  offer  up  to  thee  pure  homages,  fervent  sighs,  and prayers worthy  of  the  eternal  riches  which  thou  hast  so  often  promised to  those  who  shall  have  well  entreated  them.